Amsterdam to Budapest June 8, 2014.

fauxtographer

Wife and I are anxiously anticipating our first riverboat cruise.

Anyone else on this particular trip?

Am curious if we will need converters for electricity on the boat to convert to 110V and to AC.

Thanks

jdurkin

Hi fauxtographer,

There are outlets for 110 & the standard European (220) in the cabins. You might need to take converter plugs, however. I always need to charge everything at once and besides, my gadgets have different plugs to European ones!

Cheers,

Jan

TauckTim

Hi fauxtographer,

Electric current in the areas visited is 220 volts. There are two 110-volt outlets per cabin on all Jewel class riverboats. While it will be necessary for you to use a special adaptor plug to fit the wall outlets featured locally, most consumer electronics no longer require the use of a voltage converter/transformer along with the adaptor plug. (Most electronics now selfconvert, and can actually be damaged by using an additional converter.) Adaptor plugs can be purchased at many consumer electronic stores, through online travel accessory suppliers, and in retail locations at many airports. The adapter converts 2 prong polarized US plug to European 4mm round pin. Hair straighteners and curling irons will require a converter unless there is a current switch on the device.

I hope this helps!

-Tim

Suffolk Peanut

Hi TauckTim,
What do you mean by "most electronics now self convert"? And, how do we know what our particular ones do? Actually, are iphones and ipads self-converters?
Thanks for your help -

jdurkin

This is really technical …. not. I'm sure there are people out there who can explain it in a really techy way, but this is my take. On the power cords of most electronic equipment these days, a box is incorporated into the cord. So you have the socket & plug on the device end, cord, box, more cord then the plug that goes into the electric socket/power point/outlet. That box is the built in voltage converter. What you will need to fit your plug into the wall is an adapter/converter plug. For Europe that will be a 2 round point plug. Non-tech talk aside, I understand that phones and iPads, laptops, digital cameras are all sell-converting these days, as Tim has explained.

Over to the really techy people! )

Cheers,

Jan

fauxtographer

Appreciate everyone's input. Bought the socket converters which should do what we need for the iPads, iPhones, and camera batteries.

Getting anxious with one week left for the trip.....

ndvb

Simple way to find out if your stuff (how about that for a non-techy term?) works on 220. Read the label. If it says 110-240, it will work in Europe. All you'll need then is an "adapter" which is just a plug that will make your plug into one that works on the ship. "Converters" change the power from 240 to 110. "Adapters" allow your plugs to fit into the plugs on the boat/hotel in Europe. Different countries have different adapters. You might need to go online and see which plug you'll need in the countries you will visit.